Topps Galactic Connexions came out on Force Friday like a lot of other games, most notably Loopin’ Chewie, which we hope to review soon. Long story short; Loopin’ Chewie is amazing. But what about Galactic Connexions?
Galactic Connexions is a collectible game, what else would you expect from Topps? A starter set (14 discs) runs for $10. Expansions (5 discs) go for about $4. Also they’re only available at Wal Mart, which is pretty lame.
The discs are hard plastic hexagons (the coolest shape as all game designers know) that are surprisingly good quality. When I first heard of this game I assumed they’d just be cardboard or something, but the quality is really neat; makes you want to collect them all… Hmm…
As far as collecting goes, there are 85 characters to collect (including the new heroes and villains of The Force Awakens). The rarity of the pieces is completely arbitrary and artificial. I own an ultra-rare Bariss Offee and a common Bariss. It’s just random, so as far as I’m concerned the rarity is essentially worthless. Certain characters aren’t more rare than others, just different colored borders are. Whatever.
The game itself is mostly a puzzle game, with a bit of a trivia element.
Each player selects 7 (or 10 or 15 or however many you want) discs and each places one in the center, connecting them along their “free spaces.”
Players then take turns placing discs into play, making connections. Each disc has ability values representing Attack, Honor, Deceit, and Intelligence, though those words don’t really mean anything. They’re just numbers.
Connections are made by placing your disc next to another one so the number on the one you’re placing is bigger than the one you’re connecting to. Then you score points equal to the total on the discs you made connections with. As the game goes on, it makes a neat little puzzle grid to work around.
Repeat until all discs are in play or no more moves can be made. It’s certainly an abstract game with room for strategy and planning, both in choosing your starting discs and during the game as you decide where the optimal places are to make connections.
Another way to earn points is with Story Connections. If you make a connection and can explain how those two characters are connected, you’ll earn extra points depending on the color of the disc you’ve connected to. 
You’d get extra points for laying down connections with Lando and Lobot, or Lando and Nien Numb, but obviously not for Lando and Nute Gunray. It adds yet a nother layer of strategy onto this light puzzle game.
Make a story connection with a red disc and you get two extra points; 3 for a story connection with a blue disc, and 5 for a green one. These colors are the colors printed on the disc, not the color of the plastic, which only denotes rarity and has no effect on the gameplay. Green discs tend to be people like Dexter or Taun We, who have very few story connections with other people and therefore warrant more points for making a story connection.
The biggest issue with this, is that the blue and the black are nearly indistinguishable. The only reason we figured out which are black and which aren’t, is that The Force Awakens characters are the only black ones. They have no ability values and no connections with them can be made, story or normal, making them pieces useful for blocking out spaces on the board. You’re only allowed to bring one black piece to the game. Overall the game is short and simple. It’s not very deep, but it’s a good little two player game to fill some time between games of X-Wing if you need to. Be careful, these could be addicting to collect.
Pros:
- Awesome quality pieces.
- Simple filler game that should be good for all ages.
- Neat trivia element.
- Decent character variety for the first wave of discs.
Cons:
- Blue and Black rims look way to similar. Couldn’t have used a light blue?
- Only available at Wal Mart.
- Dumb Name. They could have just gone the extra mile and named it Galaktik Connexionz.
- Only two characters are from an animated series (Ahsoka & Asajj). I want Chopper!
From a Certain Point of View
These things could either be pros or cons, depending on your preferences:
- Collectible game.
- Rarity is completely arbitrary.
- Pretty simple.
